I had a fabulous weekend. Not fabulous in the I´m in Europe and everything is beautiful and historic sense. Fabulous in the I´m in Osorno and life isn´t glamorous but I love it anyway sense.
Friday afternoon I went on a date with a guy named Daniel that I met last weekend. He´s really adorable and we spent a few hours talking about cultural differences, looking at ropa americana (salvation army clothes that somehow end up in Chile for similar prices) eating empanadas and drinking Escudo (chilean beer). He´s adorable and thinks everything I say is facinating. He also tells me over and over that I´m the most beautiful woman in the world and that my spanish is wonderful. Two things, I love to hear even if I don´t beleive them. Then I explained politely that my friends were waiting for me and despite his protests escaped in time to meet up with my friends.
I met up with a girl from the office and some of her adorable friends at the bull in the center of town. After taking a whole series of affectionate pictures with the toro, we headed to a discoteca in town. After a slight scare because I didn´t bring my ID (uhh, I´m 21? duh?) we made it in before midnight which means we don´t have to pay, but the place is completely empty. We gossiped about the office, danced to reggaeton (not until 2am when the dancing starts), and drank more Escudo. Everyone of course picked up a guy (it seems this is the goal of going out) and I successfully ditched several who were too facinated by my foreigness. I made it home at a cool 4am, two hours before Victor (the other student living in the house) would make it to his bed.
After running a few errands on Saturday morning, I spent the whole day hanging out with the family in the house. Eli and I cut up a pair of pants to make a bag (well, mostly Eli) and we all spent the day preparing for the curanto celebration. Curanto is made by cooking clams, mussles, chicken, beef, sausages and potatoes in white wine, onions and cilantro. And yes, you have to eat all of it. It was absoultely as delicious as they had all warned me, and I gulfed down all the ingredients. Javier´s parents, friends and brother came and the whole occasion was delicious and festive.
Of course there was only white wine at the table and after finishing my plate I escaped to the kitchen and gulfed down a huge glass of water. I refilled it and tried to return to my seat. The whole table fell silent and everyone looked at me as if I had entered a synagogue with a ham and cheese sandwhich. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? They all broke out into a series of warnings about how you absoultely cannot drink water after eating curanto because it will make you sick. I was obviously skeptical, but they were insistent. I poured out my water and returned to my glass of wine. As the conversation turned to a discussion of what other things might make one vomit, I started to panic. Was this beautiful day going to end in disaster? Would I make it to the morning? I called my friend Daniel in search of a second opinion. He only confirmed the chilean belief that I would probably have a very unhappy evening. That was not the news I was looking for. I returned to the table and continued working on my vino tinto until my giggles overcame my worries.
After the meal we spread out into the living room and stayed up drinking and talking. I taught everyone how to play BS and then they taught me the chilean version. I won both games. Turns out I´m a great liar. At around 3:30, Tío ordered that it was time to tell jokes. My "I told you gays know everything" joke went over fabulously. About half the jokes were about Jesus and his apostles. Typical chile. Tío also got a bit too drunk and was giving me an especially hard time all night long. He then got really emotional and told me that he loved me and thought of me as his daughter, which was really adorable. He also kept farting, which I found hysterical but Tía looked a little embarassed/disgusted. The whole night was really fun and we finally went to bed around 5am. By some miracle, or maybe because of the curanto, I was able to sleep in until noon today. I went for a rainy run only to be welcomed back by more curanto. Yummm. This time I drank coke instead of water, and remembered happily that I had survived the deadly curanto-agua combination.
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